During the lifecycle of a product, many different functional groups of an organization or organizations may each play a role. Marketers may typically be involved with specifying features, options, or configurations for the product. Engineers and designers of various types are usually involved in designing the mechanical and functional aspects of the different modules or elements of the product. Manufacturing personnel determine how and where the product will be assembled. Supply chain and materials management personnel handle the details of specifying and interfacing with vendors of parts that can be sourced from around the world. Technical publication writers produce documentation that may be culled from the work product of all of these team members. Quality inspectors and assessors predict and evaluate the quality of the product. Continuing product engineers may evolve the product over time to add or improve features or respond to changes in parts made by vendors.
The products themselves may be of an almost infinite variety and scale, including, for example, computers, automobiles, electronic equipment, medical devices, mechanical devices, and many others.
Data about the work product produced, and consumed, by these and other personnel responsible for the product are typically maintained in electronic form in computer systems. Often different aspects of the work product are maintained, by a wide range of personnel, in different computer systems, using different databases and software applications, provided by different vendors. Often these may be legacy systems, put in place in different departments of an organization at different times, and tightly integrated with the processes of a particular department or organization.
As the product evolves over time, different personnel make changes to the product data as is appropriate to the scope of their responsibilities. For example, a marketeer may define a new product option or change an existing one, resulting in the addition or deletion of parts. A design engineer may change the shape of a part, or change the sub-parts that constitute it. A procurement specialist may substitute a cheaper or better part from a new vendor for a previous part. Such activities are a normal and beneficial part of product development and maintenance. However, they can also have adverse side effects.